Person:Elizabeth Johnson (41)

Concerning the ancestry of Elizabeth (Johnson) Blake

"(Suff. XIV : 33) Letters of adm. granted to Smith Johnson of Woodstock, Co. Suff., on the estate of his Father Nathaniel Johnson late of sd. Woodstock, husbandman, deced, by request of the widow and children of the sd. deced. Dated at Boston 27 Apr. 1699.

(p. 54) The Inventory of the Estate of Nathaniel Johnson Senr. of Woodstock deced 14 Feb. 1698-9, apprized this 19 June 1699, by us Phillip Eastman, Matthew Davis, Samuel Perin, and exhibited by Smith Johnson son and admr. 29 June 1699.

The above probate record and the following deed are given in order to show that John Blake did not marry Elizabeth Johnson, the daughter of Isaac and Mary (Harris) Johnson, b. 19 Feb. 1681, but Elizabeth Johnson, the daughter of Nathaniel and Mary (Smith) Johnson.

John Blake the son of John and Sarah Blake was b. 19 May 1683 Middletown, Conn.; m. Elizabeth Johnson 20 Oct. 1705 Middletown; d. 8 Dec. 1724 Middletown, as John Blake Senr.; the widow Elizabeth Blake d. 17 Mar. 1735-6 Middletown.

(Suff. Deed XXVII : 243, and other deeds to p. 246) Woodstock 8 Dec. 1709.

John Blake of Middle Town, Co. Hartford, weaver, who married with Elizabeth Johnson Daughter unto Nathanael Johnson late of Woodstock, Co. Suff., and Elizabeth my wife, having received of our Brother Smith Johnson of Woodstock lands by the name of the homelott number eighty of 47 acres and a half, & fifteen pounds ten shillings in money for our proportion of the Estate of the said deced. In presence of Edward Bridge, John Chandler, John Bacons. Suff. ss. Woodstock, 22 May 1710, Elizabeth Blake personally acknowledged the deed. Rec. 21 Oct. 1713.

(Suff. Deed XLV : 16) Edmund Chamberlain, yeoman, & Eliza. his wife, of Woodstock Co. Suff., for love towards our son Joseph Chamberlain of Woodstock, for his settlement & as Eighty pounds of his portion of my estate, sold a certain Lot of West Division lying in the fourth half of Woodstock in the fourth Range of West Division Lotts, & lyes Quality for Quantity eight acres. Dated 12 Feb. 1728-9. Suff. ss. Woodstock Nov. 1730, Edmund & Elizabeth Chamberlain personally acknowledged the deed. Rec. 16 Dec. 1730.

(Midd. Deed XXXIV : 446) We John Johnson yeoman, Edmund Chamberline yeoman and Elisabeth his wife, Joseph Deming Housewright and Mary his wife, Nathaniel Johnson and Smith Johnson yeoman (as well in behalf of ourselves as of our Brothers and sisters) Elizabeth Morris widow Abigail Aspinwall widow and Abigail Pain all of Woodstock in the County of Worcester Samuel Carpenter yeoman and Hannah his wife both of Pomfret in the County of Windham and Henry Bacon of Mortlack in the said County of Windham yeoman (as well in my own behalf as in behalf of my brothers and sisters) … in consideration of … thirteen pounds ten shillings … by Isaac Bowen of Newton County Middlesex … paid … sell …a certain Tract or Grant of Land originally made to our predecessor Capt. Isaac Johnson late of Roxbury in the County of Suffolk deceased by the General Assembly of the province of the Massachusetts Bay held in Boston Anno Domini 1660 containing two hundred and fifty acres … the said Land was laid out in consort with a like Quantity granted and surveyed to Capt. William Davis of Boston … and lieth together in one plot in the wilderness on the west of Merrimack river and about six mile distant therefrom at a place then called by the Indians Quottynimapasshess upon and on both sides of Sochkragonocke River lying two hundred and forty roles [?] in length upon a strait line down the river.

Signed 16 Feb. 1732-3 and ack. by all.

Recorded 5 Nov. 1733.

The deed just stated needs to be explained.

The predecessor Capt. Isaac Johnson late of Roxbury, married Elizabeth Porter 20 Jan. 1637, and among other children had Isaac born 1644, Nathaniel born 1647, Elizabeth married to Henry Bowen 20 Dec. 1658, and Mary married to William Bartholomew 17 Dec. 1663.

The son Isaac Johnson married at Roxbury Mary Harris on the 26 Dec. 1669; among a very large family, they had Elizabeth bom 1681, and Mary b. 1687 who married Jonathan Blake, brother to John Blake the husband of another Elizabeth Johnson, as has been already noted, both sons of John and Sarah (Hall) Blake of Middletown, Conn.

The other son Nathaniel Johnson married at Roxbury Maie Smith on the 29 Apr. 1667; their children were John born 1668, Nathaniel born 1670, Smith born 1672, Mary born 1674, and Hannah born 1683. To these children must be added Elizabeth, whose birth is unrecorded.

A few marriages from the town records of Woodstock will still further explain the deed.

Nathaniel Aspinwall married Abigail Bowen 11 Nov. 1698: (Aspinwall Genealogy, by Algernon Aikin Aspinwall). Samuel Carpenter of Pomfret married Hannah Johnson of Woodstock 4 Feb. 1713: (Carpenter Family, by Amos Bugbee Carpenter). Elizabeth Bowen married Edward Morris of Roxbury 24 May 1683 (Bowens of Woodstock, by Edward A. Bowen). Margaret Bowen married Joseph Bacon 6 Nov. 1688. And Joseph Deming married Mary Bowen: (Deming Genealogy, by Judson Keith Deming).

The Bowen women above, are all the children of Henry Bowen and Elizabeth Johnson, mentioned above.

The Elizabeth, wife of Edmund Chamberline, mentioned in the deed, is the daughter of William and Mary (Johnson) Bartholomew, and like the others mentioned, a grandchild of Capt. Isaac Johnson. These grandchildren are really different groups of brothers and sisters descended from the children of Isaac and Elizabeth (Porter) Johnson."^[3]

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 12 Nathaniel Johnson³, in Bowen, Clarence Winthrop; Donald Lines Jacobus; and William Herbert Wood. The History of Woodstock, Connecticut. (Norwood, Massachusetts: Plimpton Press, 1926-1943)
   7:150.

   32 Elizabeth [Johnson]⁴ m. (int.) Sept. 19, 1705 John Blake of Middletown (Marriage proved by Deeds, Worcester, 9:98.)."

   Since the Roxbury records are generally very complete, and document the other Johnson children, it is not unreasonable to place her birth in the period c. 1686 when the family was relocating to Woodstock. The 1686 date is consistent with her marrying in 1705.

2. ↑ 3 (12) Nathaniel Johnson, in Johnson, Paul Franklin; Frank Leonard Johnson; and Ada Johnson Modern. Genealogy of Captain John Johnson of Roxbury, Massachusetts. (Los Angeles: The Author; printed by The Commonwealth Press, 1951).

   "87 Elizabeth [Johnson], b. about 1678, Roxbury, Mass.; d. Mar. 17, 1736."

   There is room in this family to slot her birth at 1678, between brother Isaac (1676) and sister Rebecca (1680). Were this the case, she would have been about 27 at her marriage to a spouse who was about 22; not impossible, but less likely than if she were born later.

3. ↑ Linzee, John William. The History of Peter Parker and Sarah Ruggles of Roxbury, Mass. and Their Ancestors and Descendants. (Boston, Mass.: Samuel Usher, 1913)
   378-80.
4. ↑ Middletown Vital Records [NEHGS], in Connecticut, United States. The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records
   51.

   "[Blake,] Elizabeth, wid. [of John], d. Mar. 17, 1735/6 [LR2:3]"

5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} Blake, Elizabeth, Middletown, in Manwaring, Charles W. A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records. (Hartford, Conn.: R. S. Peck & Co., 1904-06)
   3:141-42.

   "Probate Records. Vol. XII, 1732 to 1737. Page 367.
   
   Blake, Elizabeth, Middletown. Invt. £87-07-06. Taken 23 March, 1736, by Daniel Hall and Stephen Blake. Will dated 4 February, 1735-6.
   
   I, Elizabeth Blake, widow relict of John Blake the 2nd, late of Middletown, do make my last will and testament as follows: What right I have in lands in Woodstock shall be equally divided among my foure sons, viz., Richard, John, Joseph and Freelove. And that my moveable estate shall be equally divided among my fower sons, except one pair of steers 3 years old next spring, which steers I give to my son Freelove besides his equal quarter-part of all my estate whatsoever. I also give unto my son Freelove that gun which I bought with my own money. The reason why I give the above particulars to my son Freelove is because he hath taken care of me and my creatures and wrought for a great part of them. It is my will that what right I have in lands descending to me in right of my father shall be equally divided amongst my four sons. I give to Mary Bevin, who liveth with me, one cow. I appoint my son Richard sole executor.
   
   ELIZABETH X BLAKE, LS.
   
   Witness: Elizabeth Kent, Esther Blake, Joseph Rockwell.
   Court Record, Page 47—6 July, 1736: Will exhibited by Richard Blake, executor. Proven."